Timbers top Tacoma Tide again

The Portland Timbers U23s visited Stadium Bowl on June 8th and ran over Tacoma Tide FC by a final score of 4:1.The Yellows have never beaten Portland in six tries over three seasons. See a match photo gallery here.

The Tide continued a troubling pattern by surrendering another goal by the ten-minute mark. It was 1:0 Timbers when Miles Byass scored on an unassisted shot in the 10th. It was already the sixth goal on the season scored by a Tacoma opponent in the 10th minute or earlier.

Byass doubled the Portland lead in the 52nd when he scored again on an assist from Brent Richards.

The Tide are still getting used to the shorter field dimensions at Stadium Bowl, but their opponents are feasting on the tight settings. Tacoma have been outscored 12-4 in three home matches. “We knew going into the season that our back line was an area of concern,” assistant coach Mike Jennings said after the match. “We lost Elliot Morton to an injury, and we've tried several different combinations back there since then. The visiting sides are taking advantage of the field better than we are, using their speed to arrive at the goal before our defenders can.”

The U23s out-shot the Yellows by a whopping 20-5 margin and put the match on ice with Ricky Abrego's goal in the 71st. Tacoma answered back with another penalty kick goal by Daniel Gray in the 74th. It was Gray's fourth goal of the season, all coming from the spot.

Within a two-minute span, as the match reached the 80th minute, the Tide had two chances to make a final push. First a goal was called back for offside, and then midfielder Michaell Uyehara was wide open at the six yard mark in front of the Portland goal but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

Portland produced the final result with a penalty kick of their own in the 86th. Steve Evans converted for theU23s.

The Tide fall to 1-3-3 on the season while the Timbers jump back into second place in the Northwest Division with an overall mark of 4-2-1.